TSA

The agency said its screening of a wheelchair-bound Marine was "done by the book."

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) chief John Pistole on Thursday defended his agency's decision to allow knives on airplanes in the face of pointed criticism from lawmakers.

TSA Administrator John Pistole defended the decision to allow knives on planes, saying screeners needed to focus on explosives.

A former chief of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is questioning its decision to allow knives on plaines. 

James Loy, who was appointed to be the TSA's second administrator after the agency was created in 2002, said on Wednesday that he would have had concerns about authorizing passengers to carry knives onto airplanes for the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

"My sense is the decision to allow knives on board just seems to go against the grain for me personally," Loy said in an interview with C-Span's "Washington Journal." 

The CEOs of Delta Airlines and U.S. Airways have urged the TSA to reconsider the policy change for small blades.

A bipartisan group is pressing the Transportation Security Administration to reverse its decision. 

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) complained Monday she was subject to a very uncomfortable screening by TSA. 

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) asked the Transportation Safety Administration over the weekend to reverse its new policy of allowing knives that are six centimeters or less in length onto passenger planes.

In a letter to TSA Administrator John Pistole, Markey warned that TSA's new policy would put passengers at risk just as they were during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will work this week to finalize its list of air traffic control towers that will be closed because of the sequestration budget cuts.

The FAA has revealed a list of 173 towers to be closed next month to meet its obligation to reduce its 2013 spending by about 9 percent.

But lawmakers have already began pushing back on closing flight towers in their districts.

"We write to express our deep concern about the slated closure of the air traffic control tower at Tweed-New Haven along with 5 additional general aviation control towers throughout the State of Connecticut," Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, all Democrats, wrote in a letter to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta last week.

GOP lawmakers have seized on the contract as evidence that the Obama administration oversold the damage from the cuts.